


Moving In Stereo

by Skyson



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Disappearances, F/M, Music, Parallel Universes, Radios, Song Inspired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-30
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-09-03 04:39:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8696863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyson/pseuds/Skyson
Summary: 'Frequency' meets 'Stranger Things'? Stuck on the Zephyr, Daisy realizes Lola's been acting a little weird.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was my idea of a "could have happened" to Coulson, Robbie, and Fitz during that Nov. show break. I frustratingly didn't manage to post this before the new episode aired, so this is totally jossed, but I wanted to share it anyhow.
> 
> Fic title is a song by The Cars. Each section is prefaced with the song and band featured within.
> 
> Pre 4x07.

 

 

 

> "My Sharona" - The Knack

The first time it happened, they all thought it was just a freak occurrence; she was an old car, and the radio didn't even work anyway. Mack said there were probably some wires crossed somewhere, a bit of electrical current still struggling through the system from the last time it was turned on.

The incident at the power plant was being referred to as "Our Problem" by the new Director, and he refused to answer any of Daisy's questions about it. Mack and May had hurried into the Zephyr with their slew of agents Daisy didn't recognize, and Daisy herself had been forced back into the containment pod, only given the promise that she wasn't going to be taken back to HQ for detainment. It hadn't passed her notice that Robbie, Coulson, or Fitz hadn't boarded the plane yet, and for everyone else's rush, they didn't seem keen on taking off anytime soon.

After shouting a lot of threats about them taking care of Gabe, she was finally allowed to see him. Under Mack's watch, he wheeled himself where they could see one another through the windows of the pod.

He didn't talk much; only assured her that he was okay and they were being nice to him. Mack had even played a couple video games with him, apparently. But he didn't want to talk about Robbie. For the moment, he was still angry, and hurt, and confused by his big brother's actions. Daisy understood that, and she didn't press.

Even so, _she_  was concerned for Robbie, and for Coulson and Fitz as well, but Mack was sealed tighter than a Tupperware container on the subject. If she starting pressing him too hard for information, he just made a face and left the room. (It was apparent that Mack _wanted_  to talk to her about it, but he had orders otherwise.)

When the radio went haywire the first time, Gabe and Mack were eating lunch with her. (Sort of. She was still locked in the containment pod. The Director had zero trust in her, apparently. She'd yet to speak to him alone face to face.)

Gabe had jumped, and Mack had actually gotten to his feet in preparation to either attack or defend something. The music was loud, too, like whomever had last listened to it had been blasting it with the top down.

"What the hell," Mack muttered as he slowly approached the car. Daisy read his lips more than actually hearing his words. She pressed her hands on the glass, trying to get a closer look at Lola.

"I thought the radio didn't work?" She asked, loudly enough to be heard overtop The Knack.

Mack leaned across the driver's side door to peer around the steering wheel. His brow furrowed deeply when he stood straight.

"It doesn't." He told her, confused.

Gabe was now air drumming and singing along, and Daisy gave him a perplexed look.

Mack started to reach into the car to turn the volume knob down, but then the song cut off suddenly, enveloping the space in heavy silence. Gabe dropped his hands to his lap, looking mildly disappointed.

"What?" He pursed his lips, as if Daisy's disbelief insulted him. "I've always liked that song."

"How can you - "

"Agent MacKenzie." The Director's authoritative voice made Daisy stop talking immediately, and turn toward his scowling form. (His face wasn't scowling, it was rather passive, but everything else about the way he stood was very...scowly.)

"Yes, Sir." Mack stepped away from Lola, understanding what the Director wanted, and picked up his dishware from the storage box he'd set it atop. He gestured his head toward Gabe to head on into the interior of the plane, and followed as far as the doorway of the containment pod.

Rolling her eyes at his apologetic expression, she drank the rest of her juice in one swallow and piled up her dishes, sliding them toward the door and sitting down on the bench, more than an arm's length away. The last time they'd done this, it wasn't such a big deal, but with the Director in the room, Daisy didn't want to do anything to get Mack into trouble.

More trouble than he was already in, it seemed. The Director didn't seem to approve of their "lunch date". Then again, he didn't seem to approve of much. She'd yet to see any other expression on the man's face.

"See you later, Daisy," Mack murmured to her as he stooped to retrieve her dishes. "Let me know if that thing acts up again, okay? I've turned the volume down just in case, so it shouldn't be obnoxiously loud next time."

"Sure thing." Daisy nodded. "Thanks, Mack," She added more quietly, and sincerely. She meant it for multiple reasons, and his pause told her that he understood. He looked ashamed for a moment, but then smiled a little and stepped back, shutting the door between them and locking it up.

The Director watched her as he followed Mack out of the room, his expression never changing.

 

 

**< ><><><>**

   

> "Starman" - David Bowie

The second time it happened, it was the middle of the night, two days after the first. It was David Bowie, and it was just as loud as The Kinks had been.

"Damn it, Mack, you liar," Daisy grumbled as she got to her feet, wiping the sleep from her eyes. The low-level lights were on, so the space was already eerie enough without the screwed up radio. As far as she could tell, there was no one else in the room. A weird, cold feeling started itching under her skin.

All this shit with ghosts and deals with the devil and disappearing people were really starting to get to her.

With half-closed eyes, she stumbled across the pod and pressed her hand against the control panel near the door. She couldn't do much from inside, obviously, but she did have use of the intercom system. She just wasn't sure who was listening on the other end.

"Can someone come down here? Please?" Daisy growled into the coms. No one answered, and she pressed the button again, "I _know_  you can hear this." She leaned away and left the speaker open for a few long seconds. Three more seconds went by before an unrecognizable male voice responded,

"I'll send Agent MacKenzie."

"Agent MacKenzie." Daisy repeated under her breath, mockingly. "You guys must _sleep_ with those sticks up your butts."

She plopped down onto the bench, folding her arms across her chest and tilting her head back against the wall, closing her eyes.

"There's a starman waiting in the sky, he'd like to come and meet us, but he thinks he'd blow our minds," Daisy murmured along sleepily, lolling her head back and forth to the beat. Oddly, the very thing that had creeped her out was starting to now soothe her, and she found herself starting to doze off.

"I thought they said the radio was on the fritz again." Mack's voice jarred Daisy back into awareness, and after just a moment of disorientation, she realized that the music wasn't on any longer.

"How long did it take you to get down here?" She asked, getting to her feet and peering out the window toward the car.

"Maybe a minute." Mack frowned at her, looking both mildly annoyed and concerned. "Is something wrong?" He asked more quietly, turning toward the containment pod so the cameras wouldn't pick up the movement of his lips.

"Other than that radio?" Daisy gestured toward Lola. "No."

"You sure it came on again?" He sighed, stepping toward the car and opening the door this time, sitting half inside as he peered at the center console.

"Don't go pressing buttons and screw something up!" Daisy warned, half in protest to more radio issues, and half in protectiveness over the car. She could see Mack roll his eyes, even from the distance.

"Yes, Coulson." He muttered under his breath.

"I heard that." She folded her arms across her chest, but wasn't really insulted by his words. She actually felt a little pleased by that comparison. She frowned again. "Well, sorry for the goose chase. I guess you can go back to bed, now."

"What is it with you two?" Mack furrowed his brow as he slid back out of the car, shutting the door probably more carefully than he would have normally. "You sound alike even when you aren't spending time together."

Daisy shrugged, making a face.

"It's creepy."

"You want to talk to me about creepy?" Daisy raised an eyebrow challengingly. "I'm friends with a guy who thinks he made a deal with the devil and can turn his head into a flaming skull. I think he wins on creepy."

Mack pursed his lips in agreement, and paused in front of the window.

"See you in the morning, Tremors." He told her softly, and she couldn't help but smile a bit at the old nickname. She'd hated it at first, but now...she was rather fond of it.

"Night, Mack." She returned.

Once again alone, she chewed on the inside of her lip as she stared thoughtfully at Lola. She remembered Coulson telling her that the original radio hadn't worked since he was in his twenties. He'd disconnected the wires to revert power to other sources, so Mack's theory wouldn't work here.

But she really did not want to get Mack too interested, and have him start digging under Lola's hood. Trusted friend, partner, and mechanic aside, this was still Lola.

 

  

> **\---**

Later that same morning, after everyone else had been up for a few hours and Daisy had been "interviewed" by some guy with a green badge and a clipboard, she was allowed out of the pod, but restrained outside of the main area of the Zephyr.

"Hey, you're out!" Gabe seemed excited by the idea, when he wheeled himself into the room and saw her standing in the middle of the floor. Daisy looked at him sideways for a moment, wondering if he had decided she was a decent person, and if he had, what had made him change his mind.

"What if they were turned into ghosts, too?" Daisy wondered, and Gabe's expression darkened.

"My brother?" He replied with a clenched jaw. "Your two friends?"

"They're not my," She immediately started, unsure why she was even going there, and he tilted his head at her.

"Get real. I've seen the way you and the old guy look at each other. I mean, I don't know about the English guy, but the other one? Yeah," Gabe scoffed, laughing sarcastically as he wheeled himself around in a circle, almost playing with the chair.

"What?" Daisy frowned. "We don't look at each other,"

"Hey, whatever floats your boat, lady." He made a face like he really did not want to talk about it, which was mildly annoying since he was the one who mentioned it in the first place. "You really think my brother - that... thing... can be turned into a ghost?"

She rotated her jaw, still bothered that it had seemed so obvious to a stranger that she had ties within SHIELD. She had also been thinking over the ghost theory for most of the morning though, so she dropped the other thing for now.

"Well, I was told that an explosion that happened in the past was what caused your uncle's team to become all..."

"Dead?" Gabe replied pointedly, and she refused to think that. Thinking that would mean the others were dead too, and she absolutely could not go there right now. She refused.

"Ghosty." She corrected. He gestured his hands in the air.

"Well, do you see them? Because I don't. What, are we gonna call the Ghostbusters?" He asked mockingly.

"Maybe." Daisy retorted, folding her arms across her chest. He folded his arms as well, lifting his chin slightly. Well, two could play that game. She used to be a master at that game.

"So how come _you_  get to touch Lola without supervision?" Mack complained, entering the room, and Gabe half-wheeled around so he could see both Mack and Daisy easily.

"Who's Lola?" The kid grimaced, and Daisy realized she'd been leaning her hip against the car's hood. She stood straight, and then dropped her hands by her sides.

"Coulson's car." Mack answered, gesturing with a lift of his chin toward the Corvette.

"Is Coulson the old guy?" Gabe asked, slowly turning his head toward Daisy, and she made a face at him quickly, before Mack could see.

"Old?" Mack snorted. "I'd like to see what he says hearing you say that." He had a file in his hands, and Daisy jumped on it as a change of subject.

"What's that?" She asked, and Mack held it out toward her.

"It's what we have on, uh," Mack hesitated, glancing toward Gabe.

"My uncle?" He answered knowingly. "I'm not stupid. Or deaf."

Mack looked toward Daisy with a slightly raised eyebrow, and she returned the expression.

"He's a smart kid." She shrugged, then glanced down at Gabe. "And a smart ass." Gabe grinned.

"We have a laptop of his that we're going to need your help getting in to. I was thinking maybe you could find something that might help in there." Mack informed Daisy, tapping the folder in her hands.

"Or, you know, you could ask me." Gabe mentioned, and both of them stared at him.

"I'm not going to ask you to do something that will more than likely lead us to arresting your uncle," Mack started, and Gabe furrowed his brow very seriously.

"Look, I love my uncle but I know that something .... something has been off with him. Long before the accident." Gabe shook his head as he thought back. "He'd been...different. Weird. Almost like he wasn't even the same person."

Mack and Daisy shared a look, both of them imagining what that evil book could've done to the man.

"Getting into his laptop might help you guys figure out what happened to my brother? To the others? Get them back?" Gabe pressed, and Mack reluctantly nodded. Gabe's nod was one of determination. "Fine. Then I'll help."

 _"There's a starman, waiting in the sky_  
_He'd like to come and meet us, but he thinks he'd blow our minds_  
_There's a starman, waiting in the sky  
He's told us not to blow it -"_

Just as suddenly as the radio cut on, it cut back off again. Daisy clenched her fists in an attempt to restrain herself from punching Lola's hood in frustration.

"What the _hell_  is wrong with that car?" Mack complained, shifting as if he were about to move Daisy out of the way and lift Lola's hood.

"Wait," Daisy pressed her hand against his chest, stopping him. She stared at the car for a long moment before meeting Mack's gaze. "What if it's a ghost?" She asked quietly, deadly serious, and Mack looked at her like she was being ridiculous.

"Who? David Bowie?" He wondered incredulously.

"No," She rolled her eyes, then mockingly said, "'Our Problem'."

Mack stared at Lola for a long beat, and relaxed beneath Daisy's hand, so she moved back from him again.

"Coulson _would_  try to find a way back to his car, if he were dead," Mack muttered fondly, though he looked perplexed. "That still doesn't explain the radio,"

"Not. Dead." Daisy interrupted him, and he blinked at her. His expression softened, but she didn't let him touch his hand against her arm.

"Daisy, those people," He started, and she shook her head.

"Not dead." She insisted. She just couldn't...she couldn't believe that. She _didn't_  believe that. She would _know_  if Coulson were dead, she was sure of it, she was sure that she would _feel_  it.

"Daisy." Mack was trying to be a gentle voice of reason. "That team of scientists, they died in the explosion. It was just... the dark matter or zero matter or whatever somehow kept their ... forms... here."

"They died before all that." Daisy insisted. "Coulson, Fitz, Robbie - they were still very much alive when that weird light pulse happened."

"I just..." He took a deep breath. "As much as it pains me to say this, Daisy, I can't imagine _how_  they could have survived that. I'm sorry. But we need to keep moving forward, we need to figure out how to beat this guy,"

"And wasn't the old guy at like, ground zero, anyway?" Gabe piped up, and Daisy clenched her fists again, and her teeth.

"Not. Dead." She hissed, and Gabe looked nervously around. Mack grabbed Daisy's shoulders and held her firmly in front of him, and she realized that things were shaking around them.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Daisy, I just don't want you to get false hope and then..."

"What, find out that _more_  people that I care about have died? As if that's something I'm not _used to_  happening?" Daisy brushed his hands away from her. "I know you're trying to look out for me, Mack, and I appreciate that. I do. But I don't need you to protect my feelings. I need you to help me save Coulson."

"And my brother, and that other guy." Gabe piped up. Daisy blinked, refusing to avert her eyes from Mack. Her old partner acquiesced, nodding and taking a step away from her.

"Assuming," He gave her a careful look before continuing, "that they are somehow ghosts, and not actually dead, what does that have to do with this radio? It's not connected to any power source, and even if it was, the keys aren't in the ignition. Plus, as I recall, they don't exactly have a great ability at grabbing onto objects without just passing through them."

"I don't know," Daisy mused, turning her thoughtful frown toward Lola. "I'm still working on that part."

 

 

**< ><><><>**

  

> "On A Bicycle Built For Two" - Nat King Cole  
>  "No Scrubs" - TLC

"I've been told that Agent MacKenzie is asking to get you Eli Morrow's laptop." The Director spoke up, standing calmly in front of her, his hands folded together in front of him. Daisy didn't quite like that, and she didn't like his suit either.

"Since we seem to be confined to this area for the time being, I'm apparently the only one skilled enough to hack into it." Daisy replied, giving him a once over. His brow twitched subtly; surprise. "Yeah, I can tell that we haven't lifted off. We're still at the power plant, right? Soooo, no worries about big explosions then I take it? Or are we all on the list of expendable agents?"

"You, as I recall, are not on _any_  list of agents, any longer." He returned, and she pressed her lips together. "And while I have read countless reports ascertaining to your skills with a computer, that does not mean I'm about to just hand over our most important piece of evidence to a known criminal." His expression was harsh, but it softened when he added, "I know Coulson cares a lot about you. He keeps telling me that I need to see you differently, that you aren't just the erratic vigilante you present yourself to be." Daisy frowned, and Director Mace shook his head sadly. "Frankly, that's exactly why I won't." His expression hardened again into the stoic mask she generally saw him use. "His blind faith in you gets him into trouble time and time again. I tried to be forgiving. But this..." He gestured toward the containment pod behind her. "Hiding not only you, but this flaming murderer as well?"

"I never asked for any of this." Daisy argued, and the Director chuckled and shook his head again.

"We can't _decide_  other people's feelings for us." He pointed out. "We just decide how we react. And in this case, I'm sorry, but this is how I'm reacting. Agent Coulson trusts you. But I don't."

"What if I could help save him? Save Fitz, and Robbie?" Daisy challenged, and his head lowered slightly as he tensed.

"There is no 'saving them'." He said with finalization. Daisy stared at him, an appalled expression on her face. "And no, I am not giving up. I am accepting the situation."

"And the situation is...?" She wondered, folding her arms across her chest.

"I have two agents who are dead. One of them," He tilted his head, "a little off, but the other; a great friend and a trusted ally. We are still here because my men are trying to determine if the plant is safe enough to return to, to see if we can find  _any_  ...thing... to _bury_." His mouth twitched as if he were trying to hold back emotion, and Daisy blinked, speechless by how much he believed that they were gone, and by the fact he almost seemed out of control for a second. "Coulson was given an empty grave and a fake tombstone once before - I _will not_  dishonor him by doing so again." He paused for a beat. "If I can help it."

"He's not dead!" Daisy insisted, and Director Mace shook his head at her.

"Agent MacKenzie told me you believed that. Frankly, he's worried about you,"

" _I'm_  worried by how quickly all of _you_  seem to believe that it's just final! They're gone! Nothing to do!" She threw her hands up, letting out a breath in frustration, and turning away from the Director to pace.

"Past occurrences indicate that this...explosion of sorts...didn't end well for those caught in the blast." The Director pointed out, clearly trying to be more pragmatic than Mack had been, though he wasn't entirely without emotion.

"That was different!" Daisy insisted. "That was before Eli Morrow had it all figured out! If he survived the blast, than who's to say the other three didn't either?"

"But _where are they_?" Director Mace pointed out quietly, holding his arms out to the side

"That's why I need Eli's laptop!" She replied, facing him again. "And preferably Simmons to help me with the science bit of it,"

"Agent Simmons is on assignment elsewhere." The Director interrupted formally, and Daisy scoffed and threw her hands upward again.

"Then some other scientist who knows how to speak english! I got the tech stuff, I just need some help with the science side of things. I have a theory,"

"A theory that includes Our Problem being...solvable."

"I _know_  he's alive, damn it." Daisy insisted seriously, and Director Mace gave her a curious look.

"Robbie Reyes? Is his power somehow connected,"

"Coulson." Daisy interrupted, tired of the runaround, and the Director's eyebrows shot upward. "And if Coulson's alive, then it's a safe bet that the others are too." The Director narrowed his eyes, but then the radio yet again burst to life, surprising both of them before he could speak. The upbeat tempo of the song was jarring and downright disturbing given that they had just been in the middle of a fairly heated argument.

The Director first looked at the car, and then turned toward Daisy with wide eyes.

"Hal?" He asked quietly, a twinge of horror in his voice.

_"Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do  
I'm half crazy, all for the love of you,"_

Daisy closed her eyes and inwardly groaned as Nat King Cole kept on singing. And it was loud, yet again; clearly meant to interrupt them.

"Lola," Daisy rolled her eyes as she stepped around him to lean over the driver's side door and turn the volume knob on the radio.

"I _know_  who Lola is," The Director protested, and while Daisy was curious about just how friendly _Jeff and Phil_  were, this wasn't the time. "I thought that radio didn't even work?" Or maybe now was the time...

"The radio is a part of my theory," Daisy began slowly, as the radio refused to turn completely off. The volume did go down a bit though, thankfully.

"And that is...?"

Daisy looked pointedly toward the car. Director Mace looked surprised again.

"Coulson?" He wondered, and Daisy hesitantly nodded. "Coulson is a car?"

" _No_." Daisy pressed her fingers against the bridge of her nose for a moment. "I think they were turned into ghosts. Like the others. Sort of."

He seemed to mull more seriously over that, this time.

"Maybe he finally got the old thing working again," He started to reason, and the radio turned up again, while he could clearly see that Daisy's hands were nowhere near the system. He blinked. "Okay, let's say they've been turned into ghosts. How does that explain the radio playing with no power?"

"I don't know," Daisy admitted, "and that's why I'd like the laptop. And a science buddy."

Director Mace stared at her for a long time, clearly in disbelief, even as Nat King Cole finished his song and the room was filled with silence. The Director frowned a little.

"Do you think he's here? Right now? Just somehow more invisible than the others had been?" He wondered, looking around the room.

"I'm not sure, but I'm kind of leaning toward no. The only thing that's ever happened in the past few days has been this radio going haywire. Nothing else has moved or changed in any mysterious way."

 _"A scrub is checkin' me but his game is kinda weak_  
_And I know that he cannot approach me_  
_Cause I'm looking like class and he's looking like trash  
Can't get with a dead-beat ass,"_

"I get it!" Director Mace shouted over the song, eyes narrowed and lips thinned into a straight line. Daisy smirked, biting her own lip in an attempt to hide her amusement from him. The song cut off, and she almost snorted.

"He's somehow connected to the radio," he thought out loud, as if none of that had just happened, "maybe still in the power plant somewhere, using a source to feed into the - wait, that still doesn't make sense. This radio isn't _connected_  to anything." He looked frustrated. "Is it?"

Daisy shrugged, chewing on the inside of her cheek.

"We could pop the hood. Check." She shrugged nonchalantly, but she spoke as if she were asking him to break a federal law. He blinked at her, surprised.

"Are you...willing to?" He glanced back toward the interior of the car. "What if he _is_  here, and he knows what we're planning, and he gets mad,"

"Seriously?" Daisy raised her eyebrow at him.

"I'll go get the key," He nodded, walking toward the door that led to the interior of the plane. He hesitated, and tilted his head in her direction. "And Eli Morrow's laptop."

She smiled a little, hopeful.

"And a scientist!" She called out after him. He didn't reply, but she knew he had heard her. She rested her hand atop Lola's front quarter panel. "Scrub." She laughed.

She knew it wasn't real but she could practically see Coulson's little half-grin, right in front of her.

 

 

**< ><><><>**

 

> "Message In A Bottle" - The Police

By evening next day, Daisy found herself with access to Eli Morrow's laptop, and another one set up on a rolling cart so she could video conference with the lab back at HQ. While impressive, The Zephyr didn't really have the capacity for a lab like the Bus had, so this was the best they could do.

As days passed, she'd taken to rolling the cart up near Lola, where she could sit in the passenger seat of the convertible with Eli's computer in her lap and still see what was going on at the lab.

At first people meandering in the room thought that she was just nuts, and Mack still refused to get up too much hope in the idea, but the radio would play sporadically more and more often; bits of songs that had her sometimes spending hours trying to figure the meaning. If they had any meaning at all. If it was even Coulson on the other end - it could just as well be Fitz, or Robbie.

She was also concerned as to why there didn't seem to be any other weirdness happening. Nothing that told her the other two were (in some way) alive.

Maybe she was nuts.

 _"No one here but me, oh_  
_More loneliness than any man could bear_  
_Rescue me before I fall into despair, oh_  
_I'll send an s.o.s. to the world  
I hope that someone gets my, I hope that someone gets my, I hope that someone gets my..."_

"Coulson?" She asked over the words of the following verse. She glanced up around her, but she was alone in the cargo bay, so she focused back toward the radio. "Can you hear me right now? Is that really you?"

The song continued on, and her shoulders dropped. If it was really him, then their means of communication weren't working very well. The radio still didn't technically work, so she couldn't just turn it on and find a station to play him a song in response.

"How are you doing this?" She demanded in frustration. The Police song kept playing, until it reached the end, and nothing else played after that.

 

 

**< ><><><>**

  

> "Blitzkrieg Bop" - Ramones

The tech helping her from HQ was Joe, a guy they must've hired after she had left. He was nice enough, though had already made it clear that he was only humouring her. It made her wonder what he was getting in return out of all this, since while he didn't exactly agree with her, he never complained or told her that the work was fruitless.

The Director was probably just happy she was contained and not putting up a fuss. (And she would definitely deal with that issue later.)

"Okay Joe, theories:" Daisy began, shifting to sit cross-legged in Lola's passenger seat, her notepad balanced in her lap. Joe rested his elbow on the desk in front of the computer, listening. "They're ghosts, like the others have been, except unable to form any sort of corporeal ...being."

"Probably the most likely," Joe nodded, "given past evidence."

"Right. But that doesn't explain Coulson's ability to mess with this radio. He'd have to be able to touch it, right? Plus, I've checked the wires numerous times. Still broken."

"Assuming that it is Coulson affecting the radio." Joe interjected carefully. Daisy pursed her lips, but offered him a short nod. That _was_  still an option, whether she liked it or not.

"Option two: they aren't all ghosty, but they're... in the air. They occupy some sort of wavelength that we can't see. Like radio waves," She continued, gesturing in his line of view toward Lola's radio. He chewed the inside of his cheek as he acknowledged that.

Daisy knew that the scientist in him couldn't disregard that, since they knew so little about the 'explosion' itself. She knew that he has started getting more into the research of 'The Problem', and he was probably kicking himself for it because The Director no doubt told him to keep a clear head on this.

"Option three, and man I wish Jemma were here because she'd love this: Doctor Who." Daisy grinned a little, unable to help it. This was her favourite theory, mostly because it was the coolest. (Well, not necessarily 'cool', because the guys could be in serious danger, but...)

"What?" Joe frowned. "You think a man in a police box stole them away?"

"No, but, time and space. More specifically, space." Daisy glanced back down at her scribbled thoughts. Joe pulled a chair up closer to his computer and sat down, leaning forward.

"Go on."

"What if - okay, we know for a fact that there are other worlds out there, right? Different creatures and peoples and gods - what if there are also, like, sideways worlds?"

"Parallels." Joe clarified, sounding both dubious and a little awed at the same time.

"I mean, we've got guys putting together serums that create giant green rage monsters and super-soldiers, we've got aliens that look like humans and humans that look like aliens, we've got Norse mythology coming to life - where can we start drawing the line? Do you think parallel universes are really that unbelievable?"

"No...I don't." Joe admitted. "So you're saying you think Agents Coulson and Fitz and Mr. Reyes are all, lost, in space?"

"Basically, yeah." She paused. "Well, not space space, but," she gestured around her, "space."

"Right." Joe nodded again, following along with interest now. "What are the odds that Coulson is on an Earth where there's a Lola, though?" Daisy raised her eyebrow.

"Do you _seriously_  think an Earth without Coulson and Lola together actually exists? I might not know where the line is drawn, but I think it's definitely before that."

Joe smirked, chuckling.

"True..." He grew more serious, and pulled a keyboard in front of him. "Have you done any research into parallel universes?" He asked.

"Not much. What seemed to be more reputable sources were using scientific language way out of my league. I'll send you the links." She reached over to snag Eli Morrow's laptop off of the driver's side seat. "And I've finally got into that encrypted folder that's been giving me trouble. I don't understand a single word of anything - it might be in a different language, but it wasn't one I could find on the internet. Maybe it's another code, but I haven't been able to break it if so. I'm forwarding that to you as well, in case it's more science jargon or something." Daisy informed him as she typed away.

"Thanks. And, uh, Daisy?" He spoke hesitantly, and quietly, so anyone else who might be in the lab wouldn't overhear.

"Yeah?"

"I'm...not going to tell the Director about this." She tilted her head at him, and he continued, "He pretty much ordered me to be the focused one, here. To...keep you distracted, and..."

"Easy to maintain?" Daisy snarked, and he winced, but nodded a little.

"If he finds out that this research is actually becoming something serious, he might have someone else work with you. But...I think you're on to something here. And Agent Coulson is a good man. If there's any chance that he really is still alive, well, I want to help."

"I knew I liked you for some reason." Daisy smiled, and he appeared to relax.

"Anyway, maybe keep this on the down low for now. Don't let him think we're getting anywhere." He made a face, as if he were reevaluating her. "You'd make, a _really_  good agent." He meant that as a compliment, she could tell by the admiration in his voice.

He must not know the details about her past. She offered him a smile, though it felt more like a grimace.

"Let me know what you find, okay? I'll keep fussing with this radio and see if I can get it working on my end. Maybe try to communicate with him better." Daisy told him, and he nodded before signing off.

She sighed heavily, sitting back in the seat and tilting her head back to look up at the ceiling. She missed being a part of a team, sometimes. She missed being a part of Coulson's team.

The Ramones burst on suddenly, startling her and making her jump.

"Fuck!" She yelled at the radio, embarrassed that it had scared her.

_"Hey, ho, let's go! Hey, ho, let's go! Hey, ho, let's go! Hey, ho, let's go!"_

"Could you at least do this at a lower level?! Come on!" Daisy complained, turning the radio down a little. She relaxed marginally as she listened to the song, but it just made her frown. What the hell did this song have to do with anything? Had she been wrong; was he stuck in a different time as well? World War II?

She focused on Eli's laptop again, googling 'blitzkrieg' to see what popped up first.

"Term of warfare conducted with great speed and force..." she read aloud, "a sudden attack intended to surprise and quickly defeat the enemy..." Her brow furrowed deeply. "Are you fighting someone right now?" She wondered, turning her head toward the driver's seat.

She knew he wasn't exactly 'there', and they he couldn't exactly answer her, but she had found that it comforted her to talk to him as if he was.

"Lightning war? Is Thor there?" She sat up straight. "Wait. Thor."

She remembered a story Coulson once told her, about a guy Thor knew who 'kept an eye on the universe'. Some sort of guardian who protected Asgard, and had the ability to 'see all'. Coulson had spoken about him with awe and reverence, almost as much to make Daisy wonder if he was more impressed by this guy - Asgardian - than he was Captain America. She'd never gotten around to asking him, though.

"How do I get ahold of this guy, though?" Daisy wondered. "It's not like I've got Thor's or Sif's cell phone number." She thought about who could be connected to one of them, and then when it hit her, she grinned slowly and widely toward the empty seat next to her. "I've got an idea."

 

 

**< ><><><>**

  

> "Once In A Lifetime" - Talking Heads  
>  "Moving in Stereo" - The Cars

Daisy was able to contact Dr. Foster, and persuade her to contact Thor without giving away too much information about herself or 'The Problem'. Surprisingly, Thor seemed to take Phil Coulson's name in stride, and didn't ask Daisy about his survival of New York. Unfortunately, Heimdall could not truly 'see' Coulson or the others. It apparently troubled him, because he could sense that they were still alive, and thus assumed he should be able to locate them.

At this point, the three men had been missing for almost three full weeks. The Director had returned to HQ, along with most of the guys who'd been roaming the Zephyr. Mack had taken Gabe back home, and had been temporarily assigned to keep an eye on him. The Director thought that would be a bit easier than going right back out onto the field, considering he "was mourning the loss of his partner". May had somehow received permission to stay aboard the Zephyr, which was still located at the power plant. (That probably had something to do with The Director's prescribed "mourning period" for her as well.) A handful of agents hung around the Zephyr as well; Daisy knew to guard her and make sure she wouldn't make an escape attempt.

She was on a time limit, and eventually she'd be forced to HQ, no matter if her theories proved true or not. At least she was now allowed full range of the plane, and not just the containment pod and the storage bay.

Daisy wasn't above begging the god of thunder to do whatever he could to help her, and he eventually admitted that he knew someone else who might be able to help her. Some doctor she'd never heard of, but at this point she was almost entirely out of options. Joe had discerned that at least part of the encrypted file had something to do with parallels, but most of it he couldn't decipher. What little information they knew all pointed toward a parallel universe or world, and this doctor was the only connection they could find. Eli Morrow himself was still in the wind.

"Daisy Johnson?" Thor's voice spoke through her SHIELD laptop, and she jumped. She still hadn't gotten used to conversing with him. It was difficult not to fangirl every time she saw his arms.

"Yes, here." She shifted the rolling cart to face her more clearly. She was currently looking under Lola's hood, trying to successfully rewire the radio. At this point she didn't care if Coulson would get mad at her fooling around with his car - this might be the only way to save his life. She had to half lay overtop the quarter panel to reach down behind the engine compartment, where the wires fed from the back of the radio console.

"I have my...eh, friend, here." Thor sounded oddly awkward about the association, and not for the first time Daisy wondered who this guy was.

"Ms. Johnson?" Another male voice spoke up, and she pushed herself onto her elbow to look to the side, toward the computer.

He...did not look how she expected.

"Who the hell are you?" She wondered, shifting more out from under Lola's hood, brushing her hair away from her face, unknowingly smearing a black smudge across her cheek.

"I'm Doctor Stephen Strange. I hear you have a problem and I may be your only hope at solving it." Somehow he had a way of making that statement sound both nonchalant, and incredibly pompous.

"Yeah, Obi-Wan." She frowned. He was wearing a _cape_.

"Um," He didn't seem fond of the nickname, but he shook his head and instead asked her, "I'd like to hear your point of view about this. Explain as much to me as you can, leave nothing out."

She took a deep breath. If he was weird enough to wear a cape, then he could probably handle the details of 'The Problem' - and her theory. Also, jeez, that _name_.

He nodded along as she spoke, not interrupting her, his brow furrowing every now and then as she said something that particularly interested him. Or bothered him, she wasn't entirely sure which. One thing was certain, he wasn't surprised by any of this.

"So he speaks to you through the radio?" He asked, and she nodded. "Do any of the others? There are two others missing, correct?"

"That we know of. This happened weeks ago, and we have no idea where Eli Morrow is or if he's done anything else since. He's been quiet."

"You need to find this man? I could ask Heimdall," Thor started, leaning his head into the computer frame again, and Daisy shook her head firmly.

"SHIELD can find Eli on our own, he's not the immediate problem right now."

"He's not?" Dr. Strange asked in surprise, but Daisy continued on as if he hadn't spoken,

"Coulson is the important one right now. Coulson and Robbie and Fitz." The doctor seemed almost amused by her response, but he didn't say anything. "It's not like we have conversations back and forth. I haven't actually heard his voice. Just songs, or parts of songs, every now and then."

"And you're certain it's not just an electronic issue?" Dr. Strange clarified, and she narrowed her eyes.

"I don't know what it's like where he is, but he's not always around to answer." Daisy walked around the front of the car, pulling the rolling cart with her, sitting behind the wheel of Lola. "Hey, Coulson, if you're there, can you acknowledge that you're on some sort of parallel Earth?"

She felt a little ridiculous with Dr. Strange, Thor, and Dr. Foster all leaning into the computer screen and watching her while she spoke to an inanimate object. That feeling only grew as a full minute went by in silence. She shrugged, turning toward the computer, but then the radio finally sparked to life.

"Once In A Lifetime," Dr. Strange spoke up just as the first verse of the song started, "Talking Heads. The Remain in Light studio album in 1980."

Daisy, Thor, and Dr. Foster all stared at him with various levels of perplexed expressions.

"The song is a bit existential about having a life you aren't sure how you obtained, you aren't sure is actually yours." Dr. Strange thought, and then his eyes seemed to refocus on Daisy. "I think he's confirming the alternate reality theory." He furrowed his brow again. "Is he also in a different time? Have you noticed any trend with the music choices?"

"I guess it's all been stuff you could hear on a classic rock station these days? But, that's also part of Coulson's taste in music." Daisy shrugged.

"Perhaps." Dr. Strange mused, clearly not tossing away the thought that he could have travelled time as well.

"Is time travel _possible_?" Daisy wondered, and he raised his eyebrow.

"You are communicating with a god from another planet, and a sorcerer who can - albeit only occasionally - control time. Are you really asking that question?"

"Aliens and life on different planets are one thing," Daisy muttered. "But _magic_?  _Humans_  who can perform magic?" He frowned again, as if he didn't like that term any more than he liked being called Obi-Wan.

"Give me some time." He smirked suddenly as if he hadn't realized the irony of that statement until after he'd said it aloud. "I'll find your man. And the others." He raised his eyebrow again, in a challenging manner that made her purse her lips, before getting to his feet and stepping out of view.

"Sorry he's a bit..."

"Strange?" Daisy finished for Dr. Foster, and she shrugged and nodded.

"He is the real deal, though. I've seen it." She sounded awed. "We'll call as soon as we have something." She promised, and Daisy nodded.

Once ending the call, she closed the laptop and leaned back against the seat, listening to the rest of the song on the radio.

"God, Coulson, I hope you're alright," She murmured. "You wouldn't _believe_  the people I'm talking to trying to find you."

The song cut off, and then The Cars started playing. Daisy reached forward to turn the volume up, as loud as it had played the first few times Coulson had cut it on, and closed her eyes as she leaned back against the seat.

 

 

**< ><><><>**

  

> "Just Like Heaven" - The Cure  
>  "Faith" - George Michael

"No one even knows how far I've gone into this hunt, you know?" Daisy spoke around a Twizzler.

Mack had pulled a few strings and sent her some 'comfort stuff' in a box earlier this week. He and everyone else knew that by the end of this week, she would find herself heading to HQ... (that is, if she didn't get away beforehand. But she was going to wait until the last possible moment before leaving her only connection to Coulson.)

"Even Joe doesn't know that I've been talking to Stephen. He thinks I've given up. The Director finally told him to move on, and start helping in the hunt for Eli, especially since I'd decoded those files on the laptop for him." She'd let that happen, too. Stephen was pretty much her last hope, annoyingly enough, and she didn't want SHIELD catching wind of his presence. They would probably try to corral him for themselves.

"Anyway, now I've just got to wait. He's actively searching for you now. Turns out there are quite a lot of parallel universes out there. A lot of different Coulson's..." She often wondered what the other Coulson's were like, how different they might be from the Coulson she knew. If any of them were truly that different. "We're hoping he doesn't bring the wrong one back," She laughed half-heartedly. The thought actually terrified her a little. Would she know the difference?

"Me and waiting don't go well together, as you know," She continued, biting into her Twizzler again. "The internal wiring of this radio is screwed, as I'm sure you're probably already aware. But I've got an aux system working and my phone and the internet, so..."

She trailed off as she fished her phone out of her pocket and plugged it into the cord she'd MacGyvered to the speaker system of the car.

"What do you think of The Cure? You know, the band, I mean." She started playing one of their songs. She figured he couldn't answer her in song right now since she was overriding the system, but she wasn't even sure if he could hear the song she was playing.

She slid down in the passenger seat slightly, propping her legs up over the top of the door, wiggling her foot along with the beat of the song.

"We talked about running away, once." She remembered quietly, the song lyrics triggering the memory. "A long time ago, it seems." She paused a beat, as if waiting for him to answer. "And then I did."

She felt a sense of companionship, warmth, and wondered if he was sitting in the drivers seat in whatever world he was in.

"I never told you how I..." She trailed off, stopping herself. She didn't tell him for a reason. She didn't tell him for the same reason that she left in the first place.

She quietly listened to the rest of the song, and paused the playlist once it was over. She didn't want to occupy the speakers too much, just in case he needed to get something across to her. Granted, if he was in danger, there wasn't anything she could do about it.

She hated that.

At least while she'd been exploring her parallel universe theory, and searching for someone to help her, she'd been actively doing something. Now all she could do was wait, and she hated it. She had to trust a guy she didn't even really know.

The radio came to life again, softly, and not from her phone this time.

 _"Well I guess it would be nice_  
_if I could touch your body_  
_I know not everybody  
has a body like you."_

That made her laugh.

"Very smooth, charm school." She teased, unable to keep from smirking at the up-tempo song, and she knew without a doubt that Coulson was smiling as well. She reached across between the two seats, resting her hand where she figured his knee would be.

She'd swear upon her grave that she felt his fingers wrap around her own.

 

 

**< ><><><>**

  

> "Doctor My Eyes" - Jackson Browne

The radio started playing just as May walked into the storage bay, a Jackson Browne song that Daisy has heard before but not in some time.

"Daisy." May's tone told her exactly what she was about to say, and Daisy immediately shook her head, unknowingly gripping the top of the car door. "Look, I can't..." May looked pained, but resolute, "I have to bring you in. If I don't _at least try_ , The Director isn't going to trust me any more than he does Coulson at this point. And I've just started earning my way up."

Daisy narrowed her eyes, following exactly what May was telling her. She was also following along to the lyrics, and wondered if they meant that Doctor Strange had found Coulson.

"I need Director Mace to trust me. Do you understand?" May informed her, and she nodded, slowly squaring her shoulders, trying not to make any obviously threatening moves that would be caught on the security cameras.

It had to look real, after all. It had to _be_  real.

"Do you still have the keys?" May asked, as if she were requesting them back. Daisy nodded, also glancing sideways at the laptop sitting in the passenger seat. She'd given Eli Morrow's to the agents last week, this one was the SHIELD property they'd let her borrow.

She'd have to borrow it a little longer.

"I'm going to have to put up a fight, you know," May raised her eyebrow. "He knows how capable I am."

"Yeah, but does he know that you were the one who trained me?" Daisy grinned, using Lola's hood for leverage as she leapt feet-first toward May.

May allowed herself to take the hit, falling backwards, using the momentum to push herself back up onto her feet, ready to block Daisy's oncoming punches.

They traded hits and grapples back and forth a few times until Daisy pushed her palms out toward May, hitting her with her powers as gently as she could. May played up the hit and threw herself back into the side of the plane, crumpling to the ground.

"Thank you. I'll get him back." Daisy whispered as she vaulted over the side of Lola, turning the car on at the same time as she pushed a stream of air toward the control switches conveniently hanging out in the open. She hadn't even noticed at first that May had done that.

May slowly tried to stumble to her feet as the cargo ramp lowered, holding a hand against her head, feigning concussion symptoms.

She only watched as Daisy reversed out the back of the plane, Lola free-falling down to Earth. This wasn't the first time her old mentor had helped Daisy get out from under SHIELD to go save Coulson, and Daisy wouldn't forget that.

Daisy had just barely managed to get the seatbelt clipped before the car fell back off of the ramp, and she grit her teeth as she twisted to hang half over the door of the car. Lola still couldn't fly, so Daisy would have to help her out. The braces on her arms certainly helped, but she knew this was going to hurt like hell.

She put everything she had behind her powers, using the same technique she'd done to 'levitate' herself to slow Lola's descent and hopeful smooth the landing. She kept pushing even as she felt the bones in her arms shatter, the braces now the only thing keeping a marginal control over the focus of her powers.

The Zephyr hadn't gone too far before May had approached her, and she could see that she was landing within ten or so miles of the power plant.

Lola landed with a jolt, but the wheels held up, and Daisy released a heavy breath, hissing between her teeth as she carefully settled her arms atop her things.

"Aw, jeez," She whimpered, unable to keep the tears off of her face. This was bad, probably the worst she's ever injured herself. She pressed her head back against the seat, hard, releasing a loud and angry shout to try and work through the pain.

She and Doctor Strange had agreed upon a meeting location. He was supposed to somehow get a hold of her once he was back, but she would have to head in that direction now in any case, and hope that he wasn't too far away.

Shaking her head in an attempt to clear it and keep from passing out from the pain, she managed to get Lola onto the main road using mostly her knees against the steering wheel. Luckily Lola's wheel wasn't too stiff, but she was going to have more problems once Daisy needed to actually take a left or right turn.

As she drove, she tenderly used the tips of her fingers to maneuver the bottle of bone meds out of her pocket. It wouldn't take the pain away much, but it would hopefully help heal her up a little bit. Enough to drive a little easier, anyway.

 

 

**< ><><><>**

 

> "Get Up" - James Brown

Daisy jerked awake suddenly, disoriented.

She was in a ditch off the side of the road, the area surrounded by trees and looking fairly abandoned. The shift of the sun told her that at least a couple hours had passed, and she grunted as she tried to sit up straighter in the seat.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," She whimpered as she shifted her arms. She must've passed out from the pain at one point, and luckily somehow didn't crash the car.

The radio was on; that must've been what had awoken her.

"James...Brown?" She questioned, squeezing her eyes closed as she inhaled slowly. She wasn't sure if she'd gone numb, or if her arms truly didn't hurt as much as they had before. "You're fuckin' kidding me," She complained, but before she could go any further, someone in the seat next to her spoke.

"That's me, actually. Not your friend Mr. Coulson."

"Holy hell!" She exclaimed, pressing herself back against the drivers door.

"Not quite." Stephen Strange replied. "I needed you to wake up. I've found your friends. We're on our way to the designating meeting spot. Are you alright?"

"What...have you been...ghosted?" She wondered, looking him up and down. She could see the car through him.

"No. This is my astral projection." He pursed his lips. "Look, it's a long story. I'm afraid I cannot meet you anywhere except where we agreed upon. Are you alright to drive?" He frowned down at her arms, noticing how gingerly she held them.

"I can drive." She insisted.

"Good, because I'm afraid I have some work to do here, and I cannot focus on that and assisting your travels as well."

"What's wrong? Are they alright?" She demanded, and he didn't answer before flying off (more or less). "Fuck, fuck, fuck," She complained again, for entirely different reasons now, cranking the engine back on and pulling off onto the road.

She really hoped she'd get the chance to talk to this guy about what he really was.

 

 

**< ><><><>**

  

> "Where Did Our Love Go" - Soft Cell

_"Baby, baby, where did our love go?_  
_Oh, don't you leave me_  
_don't you leave me no more._  
_I've got this burning yearning yearning feeling inside me,_  
_oh deep inside me,_  
_and it hurts so bad._  
_You came into my life_  
_so tenderly_  
_with a love that stings like a bee._  
_And now that I'm surrounded_  
_so helplessly_  
_you know that I believe_  
_you wanna leave me._  
_Oh baby, baby,"_

"What?" Daisy muttered, frowning, as she struggled into awareness once more.

"Easy, now. Try not to move." That was Dr. Strange's voice, speaking soothingly as she felt hands on her shoulders.

"Why Soft Cell?" She murmured, blinking her eyes open carefully.

"I like to listen to music while I operate." He replied, sounding like he was smiling. When things finally swam into focus, sure enough, the man in the cape was standing over her, smiling.

"Operate?" She repeated, and he nodded, moving away slightly as he was assured she wouldn't shift too much.

"You had quite the injuries. A bit like my own, actually, but I was able to fix you up. Somehow, your hands were spared whatever it was that crushed your arms." He frowned at her, more in thought than with any negative emotion. "Tell me, how did you manage to shatter your bones while avoiding breaking the skin? These x-rays look as if it happened from the inside out."

"Where's Coulson?" She croaked out, licking her lips, turning her head to the side.

"Doing better than you are."

" _Robbie_." Daisy found her eyes welling up with tears of relief at the familiar voice, and he stepped into her view, carefully smiling down at her.

"Oh, so you do remember me." He teased, touching her shoulder gently. She wondered what her arms looked like to make his face look like that. She wondered what had happened in that other Earth he had been, to make him have such an outward expression of compassion.

"Are you alright?" She wondered, and he snorted.

"Are _you_?" He returned, and she swallowed deeply, her mouth dry.

"You'll need to stay under monitor for another few hours." Stephen announced, and she opened her mouth to argue, and he shook his head firmly. "You're safe, here. I'll send the other two in."

"I'll uh, go get you some water, and tell the others," Robbie told her, giving a look toward Stephen before leaving the room. Daisy wasn't surprised in the least that he didn't appear to trust the guy, regardless having saved them. When he was gone, Stephen stepped closer to the bed, giving Daisy a thoughtful look.

"Why's the song repeating?" Daisy frowned, and he smiled a little, but his eyes looked sad.

"You're Quake." He told her. "Your powers caused these injuries. I suspected, but I wasn't quite sure. You're very good about keeping your face out of the papers."

"I-"

"Shut up." He interrupted her, and she frowned at him. "I'm not one for bedside manner,"

"Clearly."

"But I _do_  know a bit about not admitting something." He continued forcefully. "About being too frightened, and proud in my case, to admit to what might be a weakness."

"What are you talking about?" Daisy wondered, tired already. The pain meds were probably kicking back in.

"If there's one thing I've learned, it's that life is short."

"Says the guy who can remove his spirit from his body whenever he'd like." She snarked, and he rolled his eyes.

"As ridiculous and trite as the expression sounds, it's true. You and that man are irrevocably connected," He gestured toward the door.

"Robbie?" She wondered, still fuzzy, and he grit his teeth for a moment.

"The one who managed to speak to you across a parallel dimension, whilst having no apparent magical capabilities of his own!" He said between his teeth, clearly very uncomfortable.

"Oh."

He shook his head, his expression becoming neutral once more, and he moved away from the bed.

"Call for me if you feel any further pain. I'll hear you." He told her, leaving her alone with Marc Almond wondering where the love went.

" _Daisy,_ "

There it was.

 

 

**< ><><><>**

  

> "Don't Stop Me Now" - Queen

"Daisy, hey Daisy, wake up," Coulson's excited voice and nudging fingers against her arm did the job, and she sat up in the seat, rubbing her hand across her eyes.

"What? What's wrong?" She grumbled, still having a bit of trouble waking up quickly, what with the meds Dr. Strange had put her on.

"So don't stop me now," Coulson sang, "don't stop me, cause I'm having a good time, having a good time - " He grinned at her for a moment before looking back toward the road, " - I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky like a tiger, defying the laws of gravity, I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva, I'm gonna go, go, go, there's no stopping me!"

He sang kind of goofily along with Freddie Mercury, making Daisy laugh. She sat up further, starting to sing along with him.

"That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit, I'm traveling at the speed of light, I wanna make a supersonic man out of you!"

She wasn't sure where they were; some interstate going through a big city - the road was multiple lanes wide - and he didn't seem to care that the other drivers could clearly see the two of them being ridiculous, what with Lola's top down.

They sung along to the entire song, even dancing a bit (mostly arms and shoulders, since they were in the car), until both of them were laughing, as if they were two completely different people. Friends on a road trip, or maybe even lovers on vacation... not two people on the run from the government, not two people who have conversed with death and survived.

They knew that as soon as she was healed, she would have to leave again. She still had a job to do, for the rest of her people, and Coulson had his SHIELD duties as well. But until then, it was just the two of them and Lola. And Queen.

Their first stop would be here (Baltimore she later learned), hiding out in the city for just a day or two. Coulson had insisted on showing her some of his favourite places to eat, during their cross-country road trip returning to California. Lola still couldn't fly, after all, and it wasn't like he could call up SHIELD and ask for a boost. He was helping Daisy lay low.

"Coulson?" She waited until they'd parked in the lot of the restaurant (it was seafood, and she could already smell it from here, and it made her mouth water).

"Yeah?" He turned toward her as he unbuckled his seatbelt, his expression more relaxed and pleased than she'd seen in quite a while. She wondered if her face mirrored his.

Unbuckling her seatbelt as well, she leaned forward and kissed his mouth, lingering long enough that he knew she was sure about the gesture.

When she leaned back, he was staring at her with wide eyes and parted lips. She grinned a little.

"Thank you." She said quietly. "For everything."

"You're the one who saved me!" He protested, and she raised her eyebrow teasingly.

"Then, call that my pay," She teased, and he closed his mouth as he swallowed, and shook his head.

"You deserve so much more than that," He argued, stretching his arm across the back of her seat and leaning into her, kissing her much more firmly than she had him. She didn't have a whole lot of strength in her arms right now, but she rested her fingers against the collar of his shirt, touching the base of his throat, feeling his moan when she opened her mouth and allowed him to sweep his tongue across hers.

She felt a little light-headed by the time someone cat-called and pulled them back into awareness, parting with a bit of embarrassment as they shifted in their seats.

She couldn't pry her eyes away from his mouth, though. Her imagination had nothing on his actual ability to kiss. (Yeah, ok, she thought about it sometimes. Sue her.)

"Maybe," He cleared his throat, glancing down at her lips as well, "we should eat?"

"Food sounds good." She nodded, her stomach winning out over...other things... for the time being. "And then a hotel."

"Yeah," he breathed, leaning toward her again, just slightly.

"We have time," she promised him, reaching out and resting her hand over his arm. She couldn't really squeeze her fingers around him, but he understood and smiled, relaxing a bit.

"Yeah." He agreed, smoothing his hand down the front of his shirt and opening the car door.

"C'mon, Major Tom," She announced as she walked around the car, holding her elbow out for Coulson to take, "Show me this so-called awe-inspiring seafood."

"Is that a Space Oddity joke?" He wondered, gently curling his arm around hers so he wouldn't aggravate her injury. She smiled widely at him, and didn't answer. "I wasn't technically lost in space, you know. Not that kind of space, anyway."

"Do you think Fitz will rat us out, once he's back at HQ?" She wondered as they crossed the parking lot.

"Nah," Coulson shook his head, "He knows that..." He hesitated, and Daisy looked over to meet his gaze. "He knows how much you mean to me."

She rested her free hand atop his, brushing her thumb against his skin.

"I imagine," Coulson looked away before he started kissing her again, "he won't be able to hide it for very long, though. They'll know I'm alive, obviously, and probably assume since I haven't come back that I'm with you."

"The Director seems quite knowledgeable about our 'attachment'," Daisy mused, looking at him sideways, and caught the tips of his ears turning red with embarrassment.

"I'm probably going to be in a lot of trouble when I get back." He admitted. "Not just for this, but for before as well. Hiding you on the plane."

"That was very noble of you." She told him. "Even if I hadn't asked for it, maybe hadn't wanted it... me being there is what eventually led to the two of us standing here right now. No one else believed it was you with Lola's radio. They all thought I was nuts."

"You are nuts." He mused, shaking his head, and she nudged him with her hip. He laughed but held the door of the restaurant open for her.

"I am," She agreed, nodding her head while giving him a disappointed look as she stepped into the building. "I'm in love with a guy who's tasked to arrest me. Of course I'm nuts."

She stepped up to the maître d', seeing the amused smile on the woman's face before realizing Coulson wasn't right behind her. She turned back around to see him still standing just inside the doorway, staring at her.

"Well, come on, aren't you hungry?" She smiled softly at him, and his returning smile was the biggest one she's ever seen on him; the corners of his eyes creasing deeply with pleasure, the blue of his irises practically sparkling.

She only hoped he wouldn't be looking at her like that the whole time, because there was no way they would make it through dinner.

* * *


End file.
